What sort of relationship do musicians have with gambling? Long before the Internet made casino games accessible to millions upon millions of people, most had to rely on smoky back rooms or the bright lights of Las Vegas to scratch that gambler’s itch. But musicians gambled too? We don’t often picture our music heroes jerking the one-armed bandit with a bucket of nickels in their lap.

In this context, gambling presents itself in music as pain and sorrow; love and loss. A losing spin of the wheel is nothing more than an analogy for life’s seemingly insurmountable obstacles of heartache and pain.

It’s not far-fetched in any sense of the word. Since the dawn of time, music has always been straight from the soul, bringing you the good, bad and ugly side of living. Whether it was some tribal drum-banging taking place around a fire or some random banjo whaling out from high atop the Appalachian, that beautiful thing we know as music has always been about one thing and one thing only: Life.

It stands to reason that many musicians would write songs that relate to gambling. Forget about Kenny Rogers’ The Gambler for a minute, we all know what that one’s about. Kenny’s colossal hit is perhaps the first poker guide ever set to music. What we’re talking about is something a bit more soul-searching. For example, Bob Seger’s hit, Still the Same, or the Grateful Dead’s Loser. And who can forget the fast-paced Motorhead hit, Ace of Spades?

These songs aren’t presented as generic anthems about gambling, much like Sinatra’s Lady Luck and Elvis’ Viva Las Vegas. These more heartfelt tunes resonate with listeners through the simple formula of bad luck – which we’ve all had. By using gambling as an analogy, we can all identify with it.

The truth of the matter is that musicians don’t have to reach us on a specific level in order for their music to be well received. The references to gambling in many of history’s biggest songs, a way to tell us that life wasn’t all roses at the time of writing the tune, is a welcomed change from the literal imagery, however.

There’s only so many times you can say “she left me; she walked out the door” before people yawn and turn the volume down. To intertwine loss with gambling is a brilliant tactic when done correctly and for the right reasons. Music will always cover a wide range of emotions. When it comes to losing, there’s no better way to express that emotion than to invoke the image of gambling. We’ve all lost a few chips.